Engineers of the National University of Science and Technology MISiS (Moscow Institute of Steel and Alloys) have assembled a prototype of an air taxi, TASS reports.
The innovative unmanned aircraft can develop a speed of up to 200 km/h and can move in the air using the Bartini Effect achieved by mounting tandem engines (and propellers) on both sides of the wing. This is a technology used in all dual-rotor airplanes.
The pilotless flying car was designed for Skolkovo Technopark resident, Bartini, a Russian company named after the Italian-born Soviet aircraft designer. The aircraft was assembled at the Kinetika Advanced Prototyping Center at MISiS.
“The flying car intended for use mainly as an air taxi has undergone several trials. The designers plan to complete the development and launch the air taxi in the market by 2020,” the university states in its press release.
The unmanned aircraft can take off and land vertically but otherwise flies like a regular plane (its rotors rotate at 90° against the aircraft body). The apparatus only weighs 60 kg and its maximum speed is 200 km/h, which makes it much faster than ground taxis and other types of public transit. The flying car is controlled remotely.